Pocket hole wood joinery involves joining boards by inserting a fastener at an angle through the edge of one board into the other. Such joints are commonly used for face frames, cabinet boxes, leg-to-rail joinery in chairs and tables, and so forth. Drill guides or jigs are used to drill the holes through which the fasteners or pocket screws are inserted into the adjoining workpiece.
Typical jigs or pocket hole devices provide for drilling of specifically sized workpieces with minimal ability to adjust the drill guide height or perhaps adjust it only in set increments. Others which seek to provide infinite height adjustment do not provide any type of locking mechanism to secure the drill guide into position without a clamp. Therefore, once the clamp is released, the drill guide moves out of position such that the drill guide needs to be repositioned with each new workpiece clamped thereto.
Additionally, conventional fixed clamps currently used on pocket hole devices are typically toggle clamps operated proximate to a workpiece. Such designs, however, can be difficult to operate properly, particularly when larger workpieces need to be drilled.
Many drilling projects also require the user to switch between different fixed bases and/or guides or switch from a fixed base to an application requiring a handheld clamp. Many devices on the market today attempt to provide drill guides which can be moved for use in different applications although proper spacing is typically not maintained. For example, conventional guides intended for use with a fixed base are often provided on a rod along which they are free to move when not secured to the fixed base, resulting in loss of previously set hole spacing, thus requiring realignment of the guides with respect to each other. This is not only time-consuming but can lead to inaccurate results. One attempt to solve this problem has been to provide a portable plate into which the guides and rod assembly can be secured. However, as soon as the guides are removed from the portable plate, they are again free to move, thus requiring realignment with respect to each other.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an improved adjustable holding system.